Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Deon Reese v. United States
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, No. 23-2291, 23-2292 · judgment January 28, 2025
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
For most of our Nation’s history, it has been bedrock law that “it is the legislature, not the Court, which is to define a crime, and ordain its punishment.” United States v. Wiltberger, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat) 76, 95 (1820) (Marshall, C.J.). But for nearly a century, Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640 (1946), has marked a stark departure from that foundational rule. Under Pinkerton, an individual may be convicted of crimes he did not commit—or even participate in—so long as they are the foreseeable result of a conspiracy he joined. That is not because Congress, or even the common law, embraced that dubious form of vicarious liability. It is because this Court invented it out of whole cloth in Pinkerton. Yet Pinkerton continues to be the law today—and federal prosecutors continue to take full advantage of it. This is a case in point. The government charged and tried petitioner on the theory that he used a firearm to commit a robbery and shoot the victim. Yet Pinkerton enabled the government to convict him of those crimes even though the jury plainly rejected that theory and concluded that it was an alleged co-conspirator, not petitioner, who committed the crimes. In other words, petitioner has been deprived of his liberty not for engaging in conduct that violates a statute in the U.S. Code, but via a guiltby-association theory manufactured by this Court. The question presented is: Whether this Court should overrule Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640 (1946).
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Erin E. Murphy
Clement & Murphy, PLLC
For respondent
D. John Sauer
Solicitor General
Proceedings
- Jan 12 2026Petition DENIED.
- Dec 10 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/9/2026.
- Dec 10 2025Reply of petitioner Deon Reese filed. (Distributed)
- Nov 21 2025Brief of respondent United States in opposition filed.
- Oct 15 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including November 21, 2025.
- Oct 10 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 22, 2025 to November 21, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
- Sep 23 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including October 22, 2025.
- Sep 22 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response from September 22, 2025 to October 22, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
- Sep 22 2025Brief amicus curiae of National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers filed.
- Aug 21 2025Response Requested. (Due September 22, 2025)
- Jul 31 2025Brief amicus curiae of Due Process Institute filed.
- Jul 23 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2025.
- Jul 10 2025Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
- Jun 27 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 31, 2025)
- May 16 2025Application (24A1009) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until June 27, 2025.
- May 13 2025Application (24A1009) to extend further the time from May 28, 2025 to June 27, 2025, submitted to Justice Alito.
- Apr 21 2025Application (24A1009) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until May 28, 2025.
- Apr 17 2025Application (24A1009) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from April 28, 2025 to June 27, 2025, submitted to Justice Alito.